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Jennifer Wolfe

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This book needs to be made into a movie (or preferable a miniseries). I read A LOT of thrillers, but honestly, few really catches my attention in a way that makes me totally absorbed. WATCH THE GIRLS is one of them. Seriously, I just absolutely loved this book. It got everything I like, dysfunctional families, missing people, creepy little town, people with wolf masks, orgies ... yeah, I bet you're interested now? ;)

Seriously, I always hope to be entertained when I read a thriller, and often at least the books will keep me engrossed and interested. But, to truly capture my interest like this book did. It was like watching a movie. It was so well written that I could picture the story in my head. The characters came to life, the creepy forest, the little town, etc.

Now, I will not give away the story, no spoilers from me. I will just say this. I love the twist and turns this story took. I love the ambiguous ending (well I hated it too, the part of me that wanted closure). I love the dynamic relationship between Liv and Gemma. It's just such a wonderful thriller. And, they need to make it into a miniseries (with good actors)!

I want to thank Grand Central Publishing for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!
… (mer)
 
Flaggad
MaraBlaise | 8 andra recensioner | Jul 23, 2022 |
Star and a half. TRIGGER WARNING: Rape, stalking, kidnapping, but written about super blandly. I don't go into any real detail about it here. Warning also for abusive family, and I lay that out in more detail.

I checked this out from the library last year, ready to read it through a certain lens. When it wasn't what I thought it was, I returned it to the library. I hadn't made it through the first ten pages. I was looking for something other than what this was. Last night, I checked it out and read it through a totally different lens: as just a normal thriller, as a way to take my mind off an email I'd sent to someone explaining something. This...uh.

Wolfe deserved a much better editor than she had. She can write, but this book reads like she was rushing through a bunch of ideas in order to say "I'm done! Let me write about something interesting to myself, in the next book." This reads almost like a joke to the genre of horror/suspense thrillers. It touches on nearly every cliche immediately, and I actually tittered a few times and shook my head plenty. Lots of slowly-built exasperation on my part, with the writing, plot, framing and various choices. Cliches include flashback framing, tragic background of the main character, dark woods written about childishly, wolves. I laughed every time they were on the page. Literal dark woods with howling wolves. I could not take this seriously. Had the descriptions been more lush and set up differently, I would have delighted in the woods as a setting. A wolf sanctuary near the film sets of several indie horror films? And a yearly pie and film festival? And--and a fucking -mountain lion- right near a rescue wolf pack a dozen strong? All of that jammed into a small town, and as the setting for the whole thriller? Seriously?

One of the rescue wolves attacks another fatally since she feels territorial over a nearby male wolf. Why wasn't she euthanized? Why did everyone just brush this off? Breeding stock, yes, but seriously? And all they do is name her "bitch." This seems like an attempt at dark humor. It had a negative effect on me. The movie writer and director I think is supposed to resemble Tommy Wiseau--he's described as an auteur, he's eccentric, and he doesn't treat his actors well, especially the women. And what a fucking exhausting writer-director: he works without a script and films whatever, often taking years to finish a project. To paraphrase Lindsay Ellis' "Rent" review, those are called home fucking movies and you're not a revolutionary. Home horror movies. Oh, the device was totally planted that builds to the ending. I get it. It wasn't clever, Wolfe, it just makes me kind of tired.

I knew who the villain was shortly after they were introduced, and was not at all surprised to find out who they worked with. I was annoyed and wanted the book to be over, and felt bad for the author. The main character and her sister are Olsen twin knockoffs: blonde, green-eyed, much is made of how skinny they are, and they played teen detectives and have been acting since they were babies. One has gone into eating disorder rehab, even. This was actually creepy to me, in a way the author may not have intended. I don't know why. The Olsen twins' programming has not been particularly interesting to me. Not that they're not talented; just not too attached to them. So, the sisters in this book hate each other and the way they were written makes me wonder if they were actually originally twins but that was changed. It would fit what the author is setting up.

I don't compare the authors' lives too often, but in this one, it was inevitable. I mentally kept a list of things I thought the author was slipping in about her life: 1. She likes cheesy horror movies. 2. She has been to film school or knows what the classes would examine 3. She writes to process emotional experiences.
4. She grew up with a mother who can't feel empathy and attendant sibling formations. This is a crystal clear example of a family headed by a clinical narcissist: the mom punishes her, the Scapegoat, at six years old for not liking a dollhouse. She does this by making her drink a ton of apple juice right before a big audition, and is smug when her little daughter wets her pants majorly, right in front of the casting directors. They had clearly never worked with children before, were disgusted, and she wasn't cast. I hated everyone in this part of the book. Gemma is the Golden Child, pitted against her sister fiercely as her understudy their whole lives, doted on by their mother and built to succeed so much. Miranda is the Ignored Child, even going missing at the beginning of the book. All of them fulfill their roles in a narcissistic family so clearly. And--scapegoat's gonna be a scapegoat. We -are- the ones who care about siblings who hate us. Putting herself in dangerous situations to rescue a loathsome person is totally a thing. Until we get proper help to free ourselves from the dynamic, which she was never set up to do, there's an overwhelming sense of obligation and guilt for people who are never going to care about us. They are incapable due to a personality disorder and will never change. We can be angry and judgmental of the Golden Child all we want, but until Scapegoats are able to leave the family entirely behind, we do things like this a lot. And the clinical narcissist parent laughs, guilt-trips us, demands we go into more danger, just on and on. Inhale, exhale.

This book would have been more fulfilling if Gemma had been killed by the villain and if Miranda had actually died all those years ago, but Wolfe for some reason couldn't take risks and made bizarre choices instead. The film screening and masquerade party were -appalling-. I was honestly shocked, and not for the reasons the author was going for. I mean, who the fuck does that?! Why did her editor sign off on it!? Wolfe, did you -say this- out loud to yourself, that it would be a good ending? Did you just want to--I--the cages and the surprise not-villain were stupid enough, and then you went for--I'm not doing this.

I can't recommend this book at all except that it was oddly absorbing. The cliches were overwhelming and this entire book feels like a bunch of dark jokes I missed and wouldn't have found funny anyway. Maybe Wolfe's next book will be a better experience for me.
… (mer)
 
Flaggad
iszevthere | 8 andra recensioner | Jun 28, 2022 |
I really like the premise of the book and it had a good set up. But, I didn't like the ending.
 
Flaggad
Brendanor | 8 andra recensioner | Feb 26, 2022 |
Watch the Girls by Jennifer Wolfe is a 2018 Grand Central Publication.

Lots of chills and thrills with a quasi-satirical spin on reality tv and horror films-

Liv Hendrick’s Hollywood career crashes and burns after her youngest sister goes missing. Now she stars in a reality tv show with a ‘Scooby Doo’ style format as a she and her team attempt to solve old mysteries.

Then Liv puts a nail in the coffin of her career by giving a drunken interview that goes viral. She’s let go from the show- but… she has an idea- a web-series where she challenges people to try her detecting skills.

When one potential sponsor dares her to try and solve a small town’s string of disappearances tied to a horror movie that was once filmed there, Liv is in no position to turn down that kind of cash.

Thus begins an intense, atmospheric investigation, that plays out in real time via the internet. The story unfolds almost like the plot of a horror movie, with some key revelations popping up along the way, and some very lurid scenes that made me want to keep my eyes covered.

The story paints a dark picture of social media engagement, the bullying, trolls, and the fickleness of fans and followers, as well as unhealthy celebrity obsessions.

This is a fantastic modern, sardonic horror story/ mystery with a conclusion that hammers home the various points the author has embedded within the story from the beginning. The execution is spectacular, even though I did have a few suspicions along the way- I was never able to fully figure out how it would all end.

Overall, this is a clever, twisty tale with layers of dark humor and irony, proving the main terror is embedded in society as we know it today.

*More than average, and quite explicit sexual content, with some intense graphic violence- ala- old school seventies horror films- so proceed with caution.

4.5 stars
… (mer)
½
 
Flaggad
gpangel | 8 andra recensioner | Jun 12, 2021 |

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Statistik

Verk
5
Medlemmar
84
Popularitet
#216,911
Betyg
½ 3.7
Recensioner
10
ISBN
12

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